Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
ADVT 
National

Lightning sparks about 200 new wildfires across B.C. as heat grips Interior

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 10 Jul, 2023 12:36 PM
  • Lightning sparks about 200 new wildfires across B.C. as heat grips Interior

Hundreds of lightning strikes in many parts of British Columbia almost tripled the number of active wildfires in the province over the weekend, with most burning in central and northern B.C.

The BC Wildfire Service is reporting more than 300 fires, with 87 spotted in the last 24 hours and almost 200 of the total number ranked as out of control.

The wildfire service is bracing for challenging conditions, with lightning storms still in the forecast for most of the week, as well as heat warnings or above-average temperatures through the central Interior.

Of the 13 blazes listed as "fires of note," all but two are located in the Prince George and Northwest fire centres, and the wildfire service says 11 have prompted at least one evacuation order, although no major communities are threatened.

Some of the fires are threatening rural highways, including Highway 27 south of Fort St. James and Highway 77 north of Fort Nelson, while flames first spotted last Thursday near the Yukon boundary now cover 300 square kilometres close to Highway 37, but aren't immediately affecting the link to Watson Lake and Whitehorse.

A wildfire in Yukon has roughly tripled in size since Sunday and remains out of control, charring about three square kilometres of bush in the Ibex Valley, about 30 kilometres due west of Whitehorse, south of the Alaska Highway, prompting an evacuation alert for numerous properties along the route.

B.C.'s wildfire danger was high to extreme across all but small pockets of the province on Monday.

Environment Canada posted a severe thunderstorm watch for the Fort Nelson and Peace River regions, the same area where large fires forced evacuations in July.

The weather office noted daily high temperature records were set in the province Sunday, including a high of 33 degrees Celsius in Fort Nelson, two degrees hotter than the previous record for that northeastern community, set 64 years ago.

Forecasters said Nakusp in B.C.'s southeast also posted a sizzling 37.2 C on Sunday, edging its old mark set 22 years earlier, and while no daily highs were posted in Yukon, that territory remains under heat warnings stretching almost 500 kilometres from its boundaries with B.C. and the Northwest Territories north to Mayo. 

Conditions could ease slightly in B.C. by Tuesday, but Environment Canada said cooler weather was not likely in Yukon for several more days. 

MORE National ARTICLES

Workers to rally on day six of B.C. port strike, employer seeks binding arbitration

Workers to rally on day six of B.C. port strike, employer seeks binding arbitration
About 7,400 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have been off the job since Canada Day to back demands for improved wages and provisions against contracting out and automation. The mid-morning demonstration is organized by the union and billed as a solidarity rally, with members reminded that there is pride, strength and commitment in numbers.  

Workers to rally on day six of B.C. port strike, employer seeks binding arbitration

Deadly crash in the Okanagan

Deadly crash in the Okanagan
The B-C Highway Patrol says it's investigating a deadly crash involving a pedestrian in the Okanagan over the Canada Day long weekend.  Police say they were called to the crash around noon last Saturday, where a car hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk on Highway 97-A in Enderby, B-C. 

Deadly crash in the Okanagan

Heat wave to hit BC

Heat wave to hit BC
Fraser Heath says a coming heat wave is set to hit B-C's Fraser Canyon, warning of temperatures forecasted to hit the mid-30s into the weekend. The health authority says Environment and Climate Change Canada's heat warning covers the communities of Lytton, North Bend, Boston Bar, Yale, Othello and Sunshine Valley.   

Heat wave to hit BC

Surrey RCMP say one person injured in shooting, believed linked to drug trade

Surrey RCMP say one person injured in shooting, believed linked to drug trade
One person is being treated in hospital for a non-life-threatening injury after a shooting in Surrey, B.C., Wednesday afternoon. Police were called to the 80 Avenue and Fleetwood Park area just before 6 p.m. for reports of two groups of men shooting at each other.

Surrey RCMP say one person injured in shooting, believed linked to drug trade

Victims of fatal 2021 B.C. library stabbing describe shattered lives at sentencing

Victims of fatal 2021 B.C. library stabbing describe shattered lives at sentencing
Yannick Bandaogo, 30, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and several attempted murder charges earlier this year. Several victims spoke before Justice Geoffrey R.J. Gaul of the B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday, including the mother of the lone victim killed in the attack.  

Victims of fatal 2021 B.C. library stabbing describe shattered lives at sentencing

B.C. health registry expansion aims to connect patients with family doctors: minister

B.C. health registry expansion aims to connect patients with family doctors: minister
Health Minister Adrian Dix says the expanded Health Connect Registry, which launched July 1, aims to make it easier for B.C. patients to get a family doctor or nurse practitioner in their community by signing up for a primary-care provider.

B.C. health registry expansion aims to connect patients with family doctors: minister